CDC Act Early Grants

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Announcements

The New Round of 2016-18 LTSAE Grantees are Here!Please join us in celebrating the new round of 2016-18 LTSAE grantees! The grantees are California, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and the Virgin Islands. Their work will span a wide range of systems such as Home Visiting, Title V, Head Start/Early Head Start, Early Childhood Education Partners and more to increase parent engaged developmental monitoring. For more information about each states' or territories' goals and project activities, click here.

​​​​​The Act Early Program

The Act Early Program is a collaborative initiative of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP) and the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) to further advance the CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Program.
Learn the Signs. Act Early. aims to improve the early identification of children with autism and other developmental disabilities so children and families can get the services and support they need. The project is funded by the CDC and HRSA with cooperative agreements for implementation by AMCHP and AUCD.

The Act Early State Systems Grant Projects

Act Early State Systems grants in the amount of $20,000 are awarded on a competitive basis to state teams formulated to strengthen their state and community systems for the early identification and improve coordination of early intervention services for children with signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder and other Developmental Disabilities (ASD/DD). The State Systems grants are for a two-year period and are designed to aid state teams in building upon state programming currently in place or as a complement other state/local activities, rather than implement a new program.

Act Early teams are engaged in public awareness, education and training, collaboration, and advocacy at the state and local level. Suggested linkages include: Early Intervention/Part C, and Section 619/Part B, Dept. of Education, ECCS if available, Maternal and Child Health/Title V, Head Start/Early Head Start, Child Care Resource and Referral Program, Home Visitation Programs, UCEDD, WIC, state programs, health/medical care providers, parent organizations, advocacy organizations, families and foundations where appropriate.

Click h​ere for resources developed through Act Early State Systems Grants.

The Act Early Network

The Act Early Network is a collaborative and responsive learning environment in which participants obtain technical assistance, participate in peer learning, resource development and systems related activities. The Act Early Network aids participants so that they can implement national initiatives and connect to other states while working collaboratively to support and identify Act Early Initiatives and further link and connect state plans, local partners and stakeholders. There are also opportunities for participants to obtain feedback and interact with program sponsors; CDC, AMCHP, MCHB, HRSA and AUCD. For more information on Act Early Network,
click here.

The Act Early Forum

AUCD hosts forums for past "Act Early" Regional Summit participants, State Team members, and past Act Early Ambassadors to share information and disseminate resources. The Act Early Forum tools maintained by AUCD include a Resource Sharing Site for State Team sharing, Act Early Forum Quarterly Webinars, an online archive of Act Early State Team planning documents, and a national Act Early Forum listserv. The Act Early Forum acts to share resources among the community interested in early identification. For more information, visit
www.aucd.org/actearly.

The Act Early Ambassadors

Act Early Ambassadors are state and territory point of contacts which serve as liaisons to
Learn the Signs. Act Early. Ambassadors support the work of Act Early Teams, work with the network of state leaders, promote the goals and objectives of the national
Learn the Signs. Act Early, to improve early identification of autism and other developmental disabilities and work to promote the “Autism Case Training (ACT) : A Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Curriculum.” Ambassadors work as community champions with programs that serve young children and their parents, such as Head Start and Early Head Start, WIC, home visiting, and others, and health care and child care professionals to improve early identification of developmental delay and collaborate with state agencies and campaign partners to improve policy and programs for early identification. Read more about the Ambassadors at:
http://www.aucd.org/template/page.cfm?id=756.